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claire cowie

Come to the Henry tomorrow for this month’s Focus Tour! The 30 minute tour will be led by UW School of Art faculty and artist Claire Cowiewho will guide visitors through Like a Valentine: The Art of Jeffry Mitchell. The tour starts at 12 and will leave you with enough time to grab a sammy at Molly’s all within your lunch hour!

From painting to sculpture to photogravure, the work produced by Seattle-based artist Claire Cowie conjures up a bizarre menagerie, replete with composite creatures and exotic locales. Haunting disembodied figures populate her landscapes; they appear at once otherworldly and familiar as they beckon the eye and the imagination. Her collages, watercolors, and prints recall Chinese and Japanese landscape painting traditions. Using a minimum of strokes she achieves deep spaces, producing dreamlike landscapes that recede into the distance. Claire received her BFA in Drawing and Printmaking from Washington University in St. Louis in 1997, and her MFA in Printmaking from the University of Washington in 1999. She is locally represented by James Harris Gallery.

The Gift Shop
An atlas is usually a collection of maps, charts and tables, most commonly of the earth’s geography, but there are also atlases of the solar system, moons and planets and things further out. In the end, an atlas is a collection of visual material and text on any subject of interest. Atlas is the brother of Prometheus. Prometheus plays with fire and Atlas has to hold up the skies; he creates space and separates the divine from everyday experience; his duty is not to mix up things and to keep the overview. Our atlas consists of a selection of ideas, sent to us by people we know and others we don’t, from Seattle, Missoula and Berlin — poems, drawings, photographs, xeroxes and essays. We kindly invite you to visit this black and white constellation.

Edited by Heide Hinrichs & Shaw Osha
On view until Sunday, January 17th

The Gift Shop Project #3 of 6

This is the third in a series of projects initiated and developed by Seattle artist Matthew Offenbacher which have turned the abandoned Henry Art Gallery gift shop into an autonomous, artist-powered, alternative exhibition space. Goals include: involving a diverse and interesting group of artists; developing means and methods which acknowledge the contingent nature of this particular site; generating new understandings of what an exhibition can be; and enjoying the pleasure and energy generated by working together. Artists! You do not have to accept the context which you are given. Create your own context! gift.shop.project@gmail.com

“Anyone who wants to participate can make a gift, place it in the gallery, and choose one to take home. The gift exchange will continue during the Henry’s regular gallery hours, Friday November 20th through Sunday December 13th.”

A visitor receives a gift from Jenny Zwick!

Jenny Zwick received a REAL Chanel Suit!

Next up in the Gift Shop: Shaw Osha and Heide Heinrichs:

The Atlas of Gifted Ideas. Shaw and Heide need you!

An atlas is usually a collection of maps, charts and tables, most commonly of the earth’s geography, but there are also atlases of the solar system, moons and planets and things further out. In the end, an atlas is a collection of visual material and text on any subject of interest. We are longing for an atlas of gifted ideas.

Atlas is the brother of Prometheus. Prometheus plays with fire and Atlas has to hold up the skies; he creates space and separates the divine from everyday experience; his duty is not to mix up things and to keep the overview. We would encourage you to play with both of them: to burn your fingers and to walk out towards the divine.

We invite you to participate in a collaborative, artist-powered project called “The Gift Shop” at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle, Washington. We are in charge of the space for three weeks, beginning December 18th. During this time ‘The Atlas of Gifted Ideas’ will unfold, with your gifted ideas illuminating the ceiling and walls. With a spirit of generosity and an openness to the contingency of chance we will bring together ideas in the form of drawings and poems: mingle them and give them away like new fortunes.

Please send us your drawing, image or poem to pass on, to position, to communicate, to travel and join ‘The Atlas of Gifted Ideas’.

For drawings and images: send a .jpg file in a resolution which would allow a black and white print 8 ½ x 11”.

For poems, send a simple word document.

The Atlas of gifted ideas will be a world in black and white.

All images/poems must be received by December 11th at the latest. Please send them to atlasofgiftedideas@gmail.com

The opening date of this constellation is December 18 at 7pm in the Gift Shop at the Henry Art Gallery. We would be happy to see you there.

Sol, Jason, and Claire are bringing gifts back to the Gift Shop! They’re stocking the Gift Shop with presents they have made together and individually, along with contributions from their friends. During the three weeks of the exhibition anyone is invited to make a gift, bring it in, and exchange it for one they find. In the spirit of “white elephant” and “secret santa” games, this encourages speculation, anticipation, excitement (or disappointment?)—challenging each of us to confront our desires and expectations. What are you willing to give? What do you expect and hope for in return? This project examines the celebratory aspect of making art and giving, the element of surprise in getting presents and in collaborating, and the potential for new relationships and dialogue within our community.

The exchange of gifts will begin during the opening party this Friday the 20th from 5 – 8 pm. Anyone who wants to participate can wrap a gift, place it in the gallery, and choose one to take home. The gift exchange will continue during the Henry’s regular gallery hours, Friday November 20th through Sunday December 13th.

This is the second in a series of artist-initiated projects which temporarily re-purpose the Henry Art Gallery gift shop. We have created something very much like an autonomous, alternative artist-run exhibition space off of the museum lobby. Goals include: involving a diverse and interesting group of artists; developing means and methods which acknowledge the contingent nature of this particular site; generating new understandings of what an exhibition can be; and enjoying the pleasure and energy generated by working together. Artists! You do not have to accept the context which you are given. Create your own context! gift.shop.project@gmail.com

The war looms, the economy collapses, there are shootings in schools and places of worship and stabbings in homes, friends get cancer, the oceans are polluted. Everyday I watch my 2-year-old daughter get braver – still, everyday she gets a couple new owies. Her sadness is my sadness.

We are at war with ourselves and with each other. We rationalize our bad behaviors and justify our complacency about environmental decline, poverty, and abuse. We worry about our anxieties and we fear potential sufferings.

This work addresses my conflicted sense of morality. The imagery is inspired by expansive sources including historical war photography, children’s wartime drawings, medieval plague art, Indian miniatures, Chinese scroll painting, current events, the Bible, and works by artists such as Francesco Ubertini, Pieter Bruegel, Fra Angelico, Martin Schongauer, Caspar David Friedrich, Luca Signorelli, and Francisco Goya.

Dimensional Invention brings together six Seattle artists that create both two-dimensional and three-dimensional artwork. Working in a continuum between flat and sculptural forms, these artists rely on the translation between mediums to develop personal languages. This exhibit features drawings, paintings, collage, sculpture and site-specific installation that demonstrate the artists’ evolution of ideas. Dimensional Invention traces the process and development of an idea through multiple works.

My friend Joey Veltkamp has been running this really nice blog (Best Of) since December 2007 and he has never ONCE said – “Hey! Betsey, read my blog!” or, “There might be something you’d want to link to on MY BLOG,” or, “From one BLOGGER to another….” No, it’s always like, “Great to see you!” and “Let’s have a cocktail together sometime!”